The most wonderful time of the year

Today is Christmas Eve - my favorite day out of all 365. You'd think that someone as Christmas-obsessed as I am would list Christmas actual Day as my favorite... but no. Christmas Day means that the Christmas season is over and there's no more anticipation, and that's always been my favorite part. The planning, the wrapping, the ridiculous amount of cookie-baking. I love it even more now that I have kids, because I get all the fun on my own behalf PLUS I get to witness it on the faces of my children. And I think we really outdid ourselves this year. I'd better make sure Matt charges the battery for the video camera.

I've been busy busy busy the last few days - but in a good way. On Friday night we went to see Santa down at the courthouse square. Betsy was a little scared but not too scared, whereas Porter climbed right up on the old man's lap and didn't want to get down. And if you ask him what Santa says, Porter goes, "Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!" It's really cute. On Saturday I went to Meijer for the ham and stopped in the post office as well. Nothing like mailing things 3 days before Christmas! But it wasn't any presents, it was some layouts that Scrapbook Trends requested. (I've really been on a roll lately! I actually have six layouts out for publication right now, which is some kind of freakish personal record. I was on the fence about entering Hall of Fame but now I think I will, just to see if my luck holds!) And the post office was mobbed but fortunately I was able to use the kiosk - one of the few times using the self-serve has actually saved me time.

Sunday, we did all the music at church. I sang in two somgs with the choir and played flute for a third. I haven't played my flute for a long, long time, but when we were looking at the choir pieces for the holidays and one had a flute part written for it... well, before I knew what had happened, my large mouth had opened and I'd volunteered myself. I'm a little surprised that there aren't 1,000 girls in the ward who play flute - that seems to be a very popular instrument. But it wasn't like they really needed me to sing, anyway, since our choir is about half sopranos. And with a little practice, I was surprised at how quickly everything came back to me. I think it turned out pretty good.

Porter told his nursery leaders, "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!" Have I ever mentioned that my son is way too into pop culture?

We had Betsy's favorite dinner - chicken pie and lemoname (it used to be called lemonabe) - and I let the kids watch the Charlie Brown special a couple of times. (One of my roommates gave me the tape when I was in college. Probably the most useful gift I've ever been given.) You've gotta love the touching holiday story of a boy named Caillou (I guess one bald-headed kid is as good as the next) and his dog Snoofy. My mother called me last night (on our new phone. Thanks Mom!) to brag about her fudge success and as it happened, I was in the middle of making a batch myself.

Despite all of my good planning, I still have to run a few more errands today. The paper pad I got for Betsy absolutely dwarfs her easel, so I've gotta go back to Michaels. And the 2-liter of root beer I got for us to drink tonight has somehow totally and completely disappeared. But, it shouldn't be too bad as long as I only have to get 2 things and I don't have to bring the kids with me... as long as I can find a parking space. We got some new board games to play with the kids tonight (I'm hoping that Hi-Ho Cherry-O isn't beyond their comprehension, let alone attention span) and we'll eat cheese balls and meat stick and crackers and do the nativity story. Which reminds me, I have to go dig up the Fisher Price sheep out of the basement...